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Grand Ole Opry OTR

by: dont1961

Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics: OTR, WSM, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Martha Carson, Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Horton, Patsy Cline, Carl Smith, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Minnie Pearl, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson,

Item Size: 5.4G

The Grand Ole Opry started as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth-floor radio station studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on November 28, 1925. On October 18, 1925, management began a program featuring "Dr. Humphrey Bate and his string quartet of old-time musicians." On November 2, WSM hired long-time announcer and program director George D. "Judge" Hay, an enterprising pioneer from the National Barn Dance program at WLS Radio in Chicago, who was also named the most popular radio announcer in America as a result of his radio work with both WLS in Chicago and WMC in Memphis. Hay launched the WSM Barn Dance with 77-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson on November 28, 1925, which is celebrated as the birth date of the Grand Ole Opry.

Some of the bands regularly featured on the show during its early days included the Possum Hunters (with Dr. Humphrey Bate), the Fruit Jar Drinkers, the Crook Brothers, the Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers, Uncle Dave Macon, Sid Harkreader, Deford Bailey, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, and the Gully Jumpers.

However, Judge Hay liked the Fruit Jar Drinkers and asked them to appear last on each show because he wanted to always close each segment with "red hot fiddle playing". They were the second band accepted on the "Barn Dance", with the Crook Brothers being the first. And when the Opry began having square dancers on the show, the Fruit Jar Drinkers always played for them.

In 1926, Uncle Dave Macon, a Tennessee banjo player who had recorded several songs and toured the vaudeville circuit, became its first real star. The name Grand Ole Opry came about on December 10, 1927. The Barn Dance followed NBC Radio Network's Music Appreciation Hour, which consisted of classical music and selections from the Grand Opera genre. Their final piece that night featured a musical interpretation of an onrushing railroad locomotive. In response to this Judge Hay quipped, "Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics. Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the 'earthy'." He then introduced the man he dubbed the Harmonica Wizard - DeFord Bailey who played his classic train song "The Pan American Blues". After Bailey's performance Hay commented, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry'".

As audiences to the live show increased, National Life & Accident Insurance's radio venue became too small to accommodate the hordes of fans. They built a larger studio, but it was still not large enough. After several months of no audiences, National Life decided to allow the Opry to move outside its home offices. The Opry moved, in October, 1934, into then-suburban Hillsboro Theatre (now the Belcourt), and then on June 13, 1936, to the Dixie Tabernacle in East Nashville. The Opry then moved to the War Memorial Auditorium, a downtown venue adjacent to the State Capitol. A 25-cent admission was charged in an effort to curb the large crowds, but to no avail. On June 5, 1943, the Opry moved to the Ryman Auditorium. It was used for Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from 1943 until 1974.
Top-charting country music acts performed there during the Ryman years, including Roy Acuff, called the King of Country Music, Red Foley, Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Martha Carson, Lefty Frizzell, and many, many others.

Addeddate: 2015-10-17 12:10:21.980753

Identifier: GrandOleOpryOtr

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Reviews

Reviewer: albie - - July 7, 2022
Subject: Grand Ole Opry

Radio.
https://wsmradio.com/opry-nashville-radio/

Home site.
https://www.opry.com/

on a trip ,just before Covid, between Memphis and New Orleans , we overnighted in Nashville and saw the Saturday night show featuring Garth Brooks.

Reviewer: bstepno - - June 20, 2022
Subject: Research questions

Updating my note below. I have found answers to a lot of these questions at the Country Music Hall of Fame website.
https://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org

It has an extensive collection of WSM radio transcriptions, including individual Pages for each of these Grand Ole Opry broadcast, identifying performers, songs sung, and more. For example, https://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org/digital/collection/musicaudio/id/915/rec/241
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Original comment on the MP3 recordings here...

Great collection, much better documented than an undated online set I've been listening to.

Questions:
Are the original transcription discs for these episodes (or tapes made from them) in library archives somewhere? Do their labels or other documentation give these specific broadcast dates?

Has anyone compiled a book or web page with playlists of the performers and songs on specific episodes?

I am mostly interested in the 1939 to 1947 programs, listening my way through them now.

I'm guessing few programs were recorded before the Red Network affiliation, but if there are earlier recordings in the internet archive I have not found them yet. A link here would be a great addition!

Reviewer: Argyle D'Chauffer - - March 17, 2016
Subject: Look no further, this is the real deal!

The sound quality and content of these episodes are impeccable!

If you ignore the constant pitches for Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco and Cavalier Cigarettes, and you can put up with the corny comedy segments (yes, folks used to laugh at this stuff), you'll enjoy these shows.

This is what the Grand Ole Opry sounded like. when today's older Opry Stars were in their prime.

You'll be surprised by what you hear.

I highly recommend the episodes from 1955 onward.

If you like these shows, be sure to check out dnt1961's other page https://archive.org/details/GrandOleOpryOtr-2 featuring an additional 100 episodes from November of 1956 thru October of 1958!

Reviewer: ninohernes - - October 17, 2015
Subject: Awesome recordings!

I'm a huge fan of WSM and the Opry. It is really great that these recordings have been made available.

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